1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally concerns Light Emitting Diode, or LED, lamps--particularly such as may be omni-directional--and larger illumination fixtures made from typically numerous ensembles of such omni-directional LED lamps.
The present invention particularly concerns cut-to-length linear lights, and two- and three-dimensional decorative lights, made from one, two and three dimensional arrays, typically very numerous arrays, of omni-directional LED lamps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In one of its aspects, the present invention will be seen to concern LED lamps that are omni-directional.
LED's have long been combined with diffusing elements to emit light omni-directionally. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,220 to Yasuo Hasegawa for a LIGHT DIFFUSION TYPE LIGHT EMITTING DIODE concerns an improved light emitting diode housing member in the form of a transparent housing that extends over the light emitting surface of the LED, and that positions a plurality of granular optical particles, such as calcium fluoride, over the LED source of light to provide a diffusion of the emitted light, thereby increasing its viewing angle.
Another, larger and separate, diffuser for an LED lamp is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,271 to James T. Hutchisson for a MARKER LAMP WITH LED ARRAY AND PRISMATIC DIFFUSER. This patent concerns a lamp assembly for use as a vehicle marker lamp or a vehicle clearance lamp. The lamp assembly includes a multifaceted prismatic diffuser to which a number of LEDs are fitted. The diffuser has an outwardly directed portion, a center portion, and an inwardly directed portion. The outwardly directed portion and inwardly directed portion are both formed with angularly offset facets. The LEDs are fitted into openings that are formed in the facets of the inwardly directed portion of the diffuser. When the LEDs are energized, the light emitted thereby is initially diffused throughout all of the diffuser. It is then emitted from the facets forming the outer portion of the diffuser such that it can be seen over a wide viewing angle.
Diffusers generally suffer from absorbing some of the light, thus resulting in a reduction in emitted light intensity.
An arrangement of LED's and other elements in an omni-directional lamp in a manner that is perhaps closest to the present invention is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,433 to Stephen K. Terlep for OMNI-DIRECTIONAL LED LAMPS. The Terlep patent concerns three embodiments of omni-directional LED lamps. In a first embodiment, two LEDs are mounted side by side in a miniature bayonet base that can fit into a conventional miniature bayonet socket. The side-by-side LEDs face semi-spherical mirror reflectors that distribute the unidirectional light emitted from the LEDs over an omni-direction. A second embodiment is most similar to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment two LEDs face one another with a spherical mirror reflector between to cause unidirectional light to be omni-directional. In a third embodiment, a semi-spherical reflector is mounted in the top of a lens cover above an LED. The components are housed in a sealable casing for marine applications where the casing can be mounted to a dock piling.
The second embodiment of the Terlep omni-directional LED lamps where two opposite-facing LED's are located on opposite sides of a single spherical reflector (with two hemispherical reflecting surfaces) may be contrasted with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention it will be seen that (A1) a first LED/reflector pair in accompaniment with (A2) an opposed first conical--not spherical but conical--reflector is interleaved with (B1) an opposite-facing second LED/reflector pair in accompaniment with (B2) an opposed second conical reflector, ergo (A2)-(B1)-(A1)-(B2). The differently shaped reflectors--conical versus spherical--and the different organization of components in the present invention are directed towards providing an undiminished-intensity LED light source that is truly extended--as opposed to being merely distended as the Terlep source will visually appear to be.
In fact, the substantially uniform, substantially distended, substantially circumferentially omni-directional LED light sources of the present invention will be seen to be most suitable to make light fixtures of uncommon, if not totally unique, shapes and forms. For example, if the extended LED light sources are arrayed in a chain, i.e., (A2)-(B1)-(A1)-(B2)-(A2)-(B1)-(A1)-(B2)-(A2)-(B1)-(A1)-(B2), etc., then a "linear light" of remarkably homogeneous light output is created. This "linear light" may even be "cut to length".
Still other, three-dimensional, forms are possible. Conceptually, in terms of the light illumination realized by two- and three-dimensionally arrayed omni-directional LED light sources of the present invention, the illumination provided is somewhat as might be imagined if the illumination derived from panelescent, or sheet, lighting was expanded into cylindrical and other solid forms. Quite simply, the one, two-, and three-dimensionally arrayed omni-directional LED light sources of the present invention emit light, or "glow", all over (in one, two-, or three-dimensions, as their shape and form dictate).
The arrayed LEDs of the present invention are electrically interconnected in the manner of discrete electrical components. It is known to so electrically interconnect to LEDs in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,667 to Ralph E. Simon for a METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SUCH AS LEDS OR OPTODETECTORS shows how a wafer divided into rows of abutted end-to-end dice (i.e., semiconductor chips) may first be placed on a thin, non-elastic membrane and drawn tightly over a knife-edge to successively separate each row of dice from the membrane. The dice are then attached to individual lead frames directly or are picked up by a vacuum fixture and carried to a position where they are secured to the lead frames and are wire bonded. After bonding, the components are assembled into finished subassemblies. In one embodiment, LED lamps are fabricated. A reflector is secured to each lead frame over the die positioned thereon, and the lead frame, die and reflector are molded into a lamp subassembly, which is then used to form a larger lamp or display fixture. The fixtures of the present invention are analogous in construction, but different in form.